Day 8

Jack is still in the ISCU, though he's made great progress this week. We've had a few steps back, which we expected and were prepared for. On Wednesday he finally got to take his first feed by bottle, and I got to feed him a bottle when we got to the hospital. I didn't realize it's so tricky to feed a preemie! Since he started he hasn't really looked back, and his feeds have gone from 5 mL on Wednesday to 40 mL last night. The goal is to get him to 60, and then keep him there while he gains weight. He takes most of it by mouth, and usually needs help with the last 10 mL which goes through his nose. He has to take it all by mouth before he can leave.

He's been gaining weight as well. He was 5 lbs. 15 oz when he was born, and as of Monday he was 5 lbs. 5 oz. Today he is back up to 5 lbs. 8 oz, so we're making progress.

On Thursday with the horrible rains, we weren't able to go down in the morning like we have been as the roads were flooded. I called midday to see how he was, and they had weened him completely from his oxygen flow, and moved him to the 'big bed' - the bassinetts that the other kids were in when they were born. However, since then he's had a bit of trouble keeping his temp up, so we're watching that closely.

Thursday night Will and I went down at dinner time, and we noticed his heart rate was doing weird things. He would dip to 75 and then go right back up, or go to 200 and come right back down. He did this through the night, so yesterday morning the doctors did an EKG to check his heart. They noticed some abnormalities, but the cardiologist from Children's that read it said it is just a normal arrhythmia, nothing to worry about. We continue to watch it closely. Our pediatrician has always been good about watching heart murmurs closely with the other kids so we'll be sure to keep in contact with her about this.

We're taking the kids down to see him today and tomorrow, and they are very excited. Of course we wish he was here, but he's in great hands at Evanston, and hopefully he keeps moving in the right direction. Keep the prayers coming, they are working!